EMC says HDS is all hype

Never one to take a beating laying down, EMC shook off claims from Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) that it is taking the high-end storage leader's top customers and employees, by rattling off one or two facts of its own.

HDS has upped the stakes in recent weeks as part of its ambitious plan to develop a $4.5 billion storage business by 2004, by targeting verticals such as finance with the aim of replacing EMC in major accounts. It's also headhunting key EMC sales people.

However, EMC says that over the last three months it has been competing better than ever against HDS on a global basis, listing recent customer wins against HDS, such as America West Airlines and Taiwan Semiconductor. But even better, says EMC, is that it has actually replaced more HDS installations over the last three months than ever before, including customers such as HSBC Argentina, Brazil-based Banespa Bank and Japan Telecom. EMC underlines this by adding that these examples are only the tip of the iceberg ? it has plenty more wins that it can't yet talk about, it claims.

EMC concedes that its "lowest-performing" sales employees often leave, but that they principally go to work for customers rather than competitors. "We have found this to be an asset to EMC," said spokesperson Mike O'Malley. He added that HDS staff leaving for EMC far exceeds the movement of personnel the other way. EMC has added around 20 sales and technical staff from HDS recently in the UK alone, he said.

In short, EMC contends that its growth continues virtually unchallenged, both in the hardware and software arena. It says latest research from Dataquest gives it a 25.5% share of the storage software market ? a 67% rise over last year. HDS didn't even make the top 10, it says. "The only thing HDS seems to be doing is whipping up some hype," added O'Malley.

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